Method of and apparatus fob



F. R. BELLUCHE METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR FEEDING SHEETS Dec. 8, 1936.

Original Filed April so, 1934 7 Shasta-Sheet 1 Dec. 8, 1936. F. R. BELLUCHE v 20,194

us'mon 9F Am; APPARATUS FOR FEEDING :imzms Original Filed April 30, 1934 7 Sheets-Sheet 2 1936- F. R. BELLUCHE Re. 20,194

T5015 OF AND APPARATUS FDR FEEDING SHEETS Original Filed A pril so, 1934 7 Sheets-Sheet 3 F. R BELLu'cHE IETHQD OF AND APPARATUS FOR FBEDHG SHEETS Dec; 8, 1936.

I Original Filed April 30, 1934 7 Sheets-Sheet 4 .8, 1936. F. R. BELLUCHE Rc. 20,194 i METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR FEEDING SHEETS Original Filed April 30, 1934 7 Sheets-Sheet 5 Dec. 8, 1936.

F. R. BELLUCHE METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR FEEDING SHEETS -0piginal Filed April 30, 1934 '7 Sheets-Sheet 6 F. R. BELLUCHE METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR FEEDING SHEETS Original Filed April 30, 1934 '7 Sheets-Sheet 7 Reissued Dec. 8, 1936 {UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE METHODbF AND APPARATUS roa resume snaa'rs Frank R. Bellnche, Racine, Wis., assignor to Christensen Machine Company, Racine, -Wis., a corporation'of Wisconsin Original No. 2,016,479, dated October 8, ms,

Serial No. 723,092, April 30, 1934. Application for reissue November 5,1936, Serlal No. 109,201

n Claims. (01.2?1-31) This invention relates to sheet feeding devices for printing machines and the like, and refers more particularly to sheet feeders of the type intended for automatic feeding of large presses and kindred printing machines.

Printing presses and similar machines with which such sheet feeders are employed, are generally so constructed that the point of entrance of the sheet into the machine is at a substantial elevation above the floor. This necessitates the disposition of the feeder at a correspondingly high elevation.

Heretofore, it has been customary to mount the entire feeder unit above and often partially support the sameon the feed board with which machines of this type are usually equipped. Where the feeder is of the continuous type in which successive sheets are separated from a bank to' be automatically presented singly to the machine, this high location of the feeder made the loading thereof exceptionally dimcult.

To load these feeders, it was necessary for the operator to carry the sheets in stacks up a flight of steps to the loading board of the feeder. Not only wasthis a very tiring and hazardous task, but because the operator had to work under difficult conditions on overhead platforms, the sheets were often improperly stacked which resulted in delays in operation and waste of material.

With these objections to' the existing types of sheet feeding devices in mind, this invention has as an object, the provision of a sheet feeding means for printing presses and the like, which is so constructed that it can be loaded from the floor to thereby obviate carrying the sheets to an' inconvenient elevation, and generally facilitate loading.

To this end, the invention consists generally of mechanism to deliver or present the sheets individually to the machine at an elevation determined by the point of entrance of the sheets into the machine, together with a feeder mechanism arranged to separate the sheets, and a conveyor to carry the sheets so separated to the elevated sheet delivering or presenting means, the feeder upon which the sheets are initially placed, being supported close to the floor so that it may be loaded by an oper'atorstanding on the floor.

Another object of this invention is to provide a sheet feeding means which, by its inherent construction, obviates the necessity for sheet slow down mechanism. This object of the invention.

is attained by dropping the' sheets carried by gripper bars, which form part of a fast moving conveyor, down on to slow moving tapes arranged to present the sheet to the machine at a rate of speed slow enough to avoid its bouncing away from the front guides of the machine.

Another object of this invention is to provide a sheet feeding means of the character described,

so constructed as to obviate special sheet 7 a press or other machine for additional printing or other treatment of the printed side of the sheet, and the feeder used was of the continuous type, it was necessary in the past to turn the sheets over before loading them on the feeder. This turning of the sheets was necessary because of the fact that a continuous feeder turns the sheets over and discharges them with the reverse side up, so that unless the sheets were turned before being loaded onto the feeder, they would go to the press printed side down.

Attempts have been made in the pastto obviate the necessity for turning the sheets over and loading them upside down as by using two superimposedcontinuous feeders, see British Pat-v ent No. 294,801, of 1928. But all past expedients proposed were found objectionable for one reason, or another, and printing establishments continued to turn the sheets manually before loading them. 9 1

It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide improved and practical means for turning the sheets after they have been separated from the stack or other source of supply and during the transfer from the source to the press.

Another object of this invention is to provide a new and improved manner of overlapped and underlapped feeding, characterized by the fact that the sheets are removed from the source singly and in spaced succession to allow for calipering the sheets throughout their entire lengths;

and to permit feeding the sheets ofl the stack by mechanism acting on the front edge thereof, and

subsequently overlapping or underlapping the will appearas the description proceeds, the invention resides in the novel construction, com bination and arrangement of parts substantially as hereinafter described and more particularly defined by the appended claims, it being understood that such changes in the precise embodiment of the herein disclosed invention may be made as come within the scope of the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, I have illustrated two complete examplesof the physical embodiments of my invention constructed according to the best modes I have so far devised for the practical application of the principles thereof, and in which:

Figure l is a side view illustrating diagrammatically a sheet feeding device constructed in accordance with this invention;

Figure 2 is an enlarged side view showing the lower half of the device;.

Figure 2a is a similar side view showing the upper portion or remainder of the device;

Figure 3 is an enlarged detail view illustrating the gear side of the discharge or delivery end of the device;

Figure 4 is a top plan view with the central portion omitted, of the delivery end of the device;

Figure 5 is a detail section view taken through Figure 3 on the plane of. the line 5-5;

Figure 6 is an enlarged diagrammatic view showing the mechanism for preventing closing of the gripper in the event the trip mechanism is actuatedi Figure '7 is a section view through the discharge end of the feeder and the conveyer to show the manner inwhich the sheet is squared and straightened by the gripper carried stops;

Figure 8 is a bottom view showing a portion-of a gripper bar to illustrate the manner in which the sheet is straightened;

Figure 9 is an enlarged detail view of the feed side of the delivery end of the sheet presenting mechanism;

Figure 10 is a detail view taken on the plane of the line Ill-l in Figure 9;- and Figure 11 is a view similar to Figure 1, but 11- lustrating a slightly modified embodiment of the invention.

Referring now, more particularly to the accompanying drawings in which like numerals indicate like parts throughout the several views, the numeral indicates the receiving cylinder of the machine to which the sheets are to be fed. In front ofthe cylinder 5, there is a feed board I, supported from the floor by a pedestal I. In a printing machine of considerable size, the feed board 3 is necessarily mounted at a substantial elevation above the floor.

The feeding device consists generally of a delivery unit or sheet presenting unit 0, which in the present instance, is shown above and'partially supported by the feed board 3; a feeder unit lsupported close to the floor; and a conveyer III to elevate the sheets from the feeder unit to the delivery unit.

The feeder or receiving unit 9 is substantially a conventional continuous sheet feeder, comprising, a lower board I I, supported close to the floor intermittently advanced-to carry tbe'bank ofsheets 8" (indicated in construction lines in Figure 2) forward toward the conveyer ll.

Supported above the board II is an upper inclined board It. The support for this upper board comprises upright columns l1 and end frames II. The end frames l8 rotatably mount a drum I! over which endless tapes 20 are trained. The tapes 2!] have their upper stretches overlying the board ii to carry the stack of sheets loaded thereon, toward and over the drum 19 to the tapes I! on'the lower board.

Adjacent the forward pulleys 15, there are combing wheels 2|, which serve to separate'the sheets from the pile or stack as it is advanced by the tapes I and to project the sheets so separated to a set of rollers 22, which in turn, further advance the sheet onto a bridging table 23. The table 23 is so disposedas to guide the sheets into the open grippers carried by cross bars which form part of the conveyer-ll.

As best shown in Figures 7 and 8, the grippers have stops 24' against which the forward edges of the sheets'engage so' that as the sheets are brought to the grippers, they are automatically straightened with respect to the bars, and as the bars are parallel with the front guides 5 of the machine, further straightening of the sheets is unnecessary.

The conveyer I0 comprises the gripper bars I3 and a set of endless sprocket chains 25. .The chains are trained about a set of drive sprockets 26 adjacent the feeder unit 9' and idler sprockets 21 located at the extreme outer end of the delivery unit- 8. Their inner stretches are trained over guides 23 and their outer stretches are trained overidler pulleys 29 by which the direction of the run of the conveyer is changed from vertical to substantially horizontal.

To support the sprockets 28, the guides 23 and the idler wheels 29, supporting posts 30, project vertically from the side frames H. The upper ends of the posts 30 are connected by cap members 3|, which afford bearings for the shaft 32, upon which the idler wheels 28 are mounted, and which also afford a support from which the guides 28 are adjustably mounted for tightening the chains;

Adjacent their lower ends, the posts 33 have brackets 33 fixed thereto, which provide bearings for the shaft 34, upon which the drive sprockets 26 are mounted.

The drive for the conveyer may be provided in any desired manner] and in the present instance, it is diagrammaticaily'illustrated as comprising a sprocket 35 driven from the mechanism of the feeder and drivingly connected through-a chain 36 with a sprocket 31 fixed to theshaft 34.

Both the vertical and horizontal runs of the chains are preferably guided by guide tracks 33 supported in any suitable manner and spaced apart a distance just sumcient to accommodate the chains. A convenient manner of supporting the guide tracks 33 is illustrated in Figure 5. As here shown, the tracks are secured to brackets tion of the structure.

The delivery unit 8 comprises a pair of parallel tie rods III, on each side of the unit, the rear ends of which are fixed to heads I .which are journalled on the shaft'32. The forward ends of the tie rods 40 have frames 42 secured thereto which carry bearings for the shaft 43 on which the sprockets 21 are mounted. Adjustable legs extend down from the frames 42 to support the delivery unit from the feed board.

Supported from the lower tie rods I and the frames 42 are tape rolls 45 and 46 respectively,

' over which a plurality of tapes 4'! are trained.

Onto these tapes l1 the sheets carried upwardly and forwardly by the conveyer are deposited to be presented to the machine. The drive for the pinion I! by a link II.

tapes 41 is of varying speed, but as a whole, the speed of the tapes is considerably slower than that of the chains of the conveyer. so that the sheets are carried quickly from the feeder unit to the delivery unit and presented slowly to the front guides 8' of the machine. The variation in the speed of the tapes is such that they travel slowest at the moment the sheet arrives at the front guides. v

The front tape roll 45 has a pinion I! fixed to its shaft which meshes with an idler gear Bl. The gear is maintained in mesh with the Meshing with the gear II is an eccentrically mounted drive gear 52 eecentrically fixed to a 'cam shaft 53. A link it maintains the idler gear ill in mesh with the gear '2.

The cam shaft 58, which mounts the eccentric gear is a stub shaft suitably journalled inthe adjacent side frame 42 and is driven from the sprocket shaft ll through a pinion i4 fixed to the sprocket shaft and meshing with a gear 55 fixed to the cam shaft.

As stated, thetapes 41 travel at a slower speed than the conveyer, and as the trailing edges of the sheets drag on the tapes. the sheets will be straightened to drop down fiat onto the tapes when the grippers 24 are opened in the customary manner by a cam 44' carried by one of the side frames 42.

As the sheets advanced by the tapes come to rest against'the front guides i, a side registering means functions to pull the sheet sidewise against a side guide II to be later described. This side registering means may be of any conventional construction, but to allow the gripper bars to pass must be intermittently lifted. In the present instance, the side registering-means includes a fiat bar I, slidably mountedin a cross rail ill and reciprocated by a barrel cam CI. The motion produced by the cam is transmitted to the bar Cl through a lever 62 pivoted at its upper end from a fixed support carried by the adjacent side frame I! and connected at its lower free end with the bar through a link 82'. At its medial portion, the lever has a cam follower 63 to trafi in the cam.

The sheet is held down onto the bar I by a pressure roller u. The pressure roller 84, as best shown in Figure 10, is carried by the outer free end of a lever 65, pivotally mounted on the outer end of a supporting arm 80. The arm '8 is slidably splined on and securable to a tube 61, which in turn is slidabLv splined on a cross shaft mounted in the side frames 42. By reason of the fact that the tube '1 is slidable on the cross, shaft,

the tube with the arm 8' fixed thereto, is adjustable transversely of the unit to afford means for closely adjusting the location of the side guide llontheouter endofthearmil. Coarseadjustment is effected by moving the arm 6' on the tube '1. Endwise adjustment of the tube 61 g is conveniently accomplished by adjusting nuts I threaded on a screw fixed stud II, on opposite sides of an arm II which is fixed to one end of the tube 01.

Being carried by the pivoted lever 85, the

pressure roller 04 is movable toward and from the cross bar ll. independently of the arm I and to yieldably urge the roller toward the bar, a compression spring I! is provided. This spring isooiledaboutapusherrodlthavingitslower lever 55 and its upper end slidably guided in the outer free end of an arm II, which is slidably splined to a cross shaft 15. The spring is confined between the arm ll and a shoulder on the I pusher rod 13, so that the rod and consequently the pivoted lever 65 are yieldabw urged toward the bar 60.

The cross shaft II is carried by the arm 68 and a short arm 16 also fixed to the tube 61, so that the shaft '15 is'at all times maintained in a predetermined relationship with respect to the arm 86 and moves up and down with any adjustment thereof.

There is also a connection between the lever arm I4 and the arm 66,- which constrains these members against separation, so that any sidewise adjustment of the arm 66, efiects a corresponding motion on the part of the arm 14. These two membersthus form a unitary assembly.

, One end of the shaft 15 projects through an opening in the side frame "on the feed side of the machine. To this end of the shaft 15, a lever 11 is secured. An adjusting screw is threaded in a suitably fixed support 19 is arranged to bear against the outer free end of the lever 11 to provide a micrometer adjustment of the degree of compression on the spring II.

In this manner, the pressure on the roller 64 is conveniently adjustable; while the feeding device is in operation.

Inasmuch as the gripper bars travel past the side registering mechanism. it is necessary that this entire assembly be lifted out of the path of the bars to permit the same to pass. For this purpose, an arm 80 is fixed to the shaft upon which the tube 01 is slidably splined on the gear side of the feeding device. The outer end of this arm carries a cam follower 8| arranged to track on a cam 82 fixed to the cam shaft 53. This cam is so timed with respect to the passage of the gripper ,bars, as to lift the side registering mechanism upon the e of each bar.

Calipering means are also provided to prevent double or folded sheets, or mutilated sheets from being picked up by the grippers of the conveyer. This means comprises a conventional trip mechanism consisting of a segment 85 spaced from a roller It over which .the sheets travel so that when a double sheet or a sheet having greater thickness than that to which the segment is set, passes over the roller, the segment is rocked, which motion is translated to a rock shaft 81 journalled in the side frames I! by means of a depending lever ll fixed to the shaft '1 with its free end in the path of an extension cam 04 forms a continuation of a fixed cam 9t provided to open the grippers at the proper instant to receive the sheets presented thereto.

Under normal conditions \of operation, when the trip mechanism does not operate, the movable cam 94 merely tilts about its pivotal mounting lI against the action of a light spring 01 provided to hold the cam to its normal position,

as the cam following rollers so of the gr pp bars advance. 'In other words, under such circumstances, the grippers remain closed, but in 75-- accurately the event an improper sheet is advanced, which causes the trip mechanism to flmction, the finger I! will be moved to its dotted line position illustrated in Figure 6, positively holding the movable cam 94 against depression by the cam following roller 90, and as 'a consequence, the grippers are prevented from closing and the sheet or sheets presented thereto will not be carried up to the delivery unit. v

To facilitate the transfer of the sheets from the feeder to the conveyer, the bridslns Platform 29, which is in fact a series of fingers fixed to a cross shaft 99, is tilted as illustrated in Figure 6, to allow the sheet to loop down, so that its trailing edge quickly clears the advancing successive sheet.

Dropping the bridgingplatfo'rm 23 to permit the sheets to loop, is particularly important when the sheets are fed to the delivery unit in overlapped relationship as hereinafter more fully described, as it is necessary in that event to enable the sheet, which has been picked up by a gripper bar, to quickly clear the leading edge of the next sheet.

To tilt or drop the bridging table 29, a cam I00 is provided. This cam is continuously driven from the mechanism of the feeder in any suitable manner and rocks a bell crank lever IOI pivotally mounted as at I02. The lever IOI is connected through a link I09, to a lever I04 fixed to the shaft 99.

As will be obvious from the fact that the tapes 4! travel at a slower speed than the chain conveyer by which the sheets are deposited onto the tapes, an overlapped relationship of the sheets on the tapes is obtained. It is, of course, possible either through a slower conveyer speed or increased distance between its gripper bars, to obtain successive non-overlapped-disposition of the sheets on the tapes 41, but as it is a desideratum of this invention to attain slow presentment of individual sheets to the press without sacrificing output speed, the overlapped disposition of the sheets on the tapes is preferably utilized.

It is to be observed, however, that although the sheets arrive at the press in overlapped relation, they leave the feeder in single succession to permit calipering throughout the full length of the sheet. This also permits the sheets to be engaged at their front edges in withdrawing them from the pile or stack.

In instances where preprinted sheets are to be printed or otherwise acted upon, itis necessary that the sheets be fed with their printed side up,

and inasmuch as the conventional continuous feeder delivers the sheets upside down, it was necessary in the past to manually turn over the stack before loading, or'in other words, load the sheets with their printed side down. This in'con'-' venience is overcome with the modified embodiment of this invention illustrated in Figure 11.

This modification in many respects is identical to that shown in Figure 1. ,It embodies the same continuous feeder 9, but instead of having it discharge the sheets toward the press, it discharges them in the opposite direction. As the sheets are separated from the pile by the feeder 9, they are presented to an 'endl conveyer I05 comprising endless chains trained about vertically spaced upper and lower sprockets I09 and I01 respectively. The conveyer I05, as in the embodiment previously described, has a plurality of gripper bars I09 equipped with grippers which pick up the sheet from the feeder 9 and carry the same upwardly as shown.

The sheets having been loaded on the feeder 9 with their printed side up, are presented to the conveyer I05 with their printed side down.

At the upper end of the conveyer I05, suitable mechanism (not shown) is provided to open the grippers, so that the sheet may be advanced toward the press over a bridging table I09 by a roller I I0, to be fed onto endless tapes I I I trained about a front roll II! and a rear roll II3. tapes I II extend forwardly over the top of the feed board 6, and suitable mechanism (not shown) is supported adjacent the front roll'l I2 to receive the sheets and present them properly to the cylinder 5 of the machine being fed.

It is apparent that through this arrangement, the sheets will be deposited on the tapes III with their printed sides uppermost as required.

The endless tapes I I I, which form the delivery unit to carry the sheets to the press, move at a relatively slow speed with reference to the press so that thesheets are brought to the press at the proper speed without-entailing the use of slowdown mechanism. But regardless of the slow speed of the tapes I, proper feeding speed to the press is maintained by depositing the sheets on the tapes in overlapped relation with the top sheet foremost. Depositing the sheets onto the delivery tapes in such overlapped relationship also permits maintaining. the desired high feeding speed without entailing an excessive speed of operation of the conveyer and delivery units.

The overlapped relationship of the sheets on the delivery tapes III is obtained by spacing the gripper bars of the conveyer I05 a distance less than the length of the shortest sheet for which the machine is designed, so that as the sheets are carried up from the feeder to the delivery tapes, they hang in overlapped relationship as illustrated. 1

While carried upwardly by the conveyer I05, the distance which the sheets overlap is the difference, between the length of the sheets and the distance between the adjacent gripper bars I09. When the gripper bars reach the upper end of the conveyer and swing about the center of the sprockets I06, the sheets carried thereby travel at a slightly faster speed than the sheets being carried vertically by the conveyer I05 so that the overlap of the sheets as they swing about the center of the sprockets 106 to be disposed on the The endless tape conveyer I I I which travels at the same speed as do the sheets in their turn about the center of the sprockets I06, is slightly less than it is during their vertical travel.

This difference in speed and the resulting difference in the overlap of the sheets results from the fact that the point at which the sheet is gripped is spaced outwardly of the pitch line of the conveyer chain so that during the turn about the center of the sprockets I06, the difference in the radius of the turn described by the pitch line and the point at which the sheet is carried results in an increased speed of the sheet.

As noted hereinbefore, the roller IIO acts to feed the sheets onto the endless tape conveyer I I I and coacting with this roller are disks 0' of a diameter corresponding to the radius of the turn made by the point at which the sheet is gripped. These disks are cut out to accommodate the gripper bars as shown.

The overlapped relation of the sheets as they are carried from the feeder to the delivery tapes necessitates a quick transfer from the feeder to.

the conveyer and as pointed out hereinbefore, this is facilitated by permitting the trailing portions of the sheets to loop down after their lead-' ing edges are picked up by the gripper bars, this being made possible by the bridging table 23 'droppingidown as shown in Figure 6.

From the foregoing description taken-in connection with the accompanying drawings, it will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art to which this invention appertains, that this invention presents a novel and practical innovation in sheet feeding devices, and while in the embodiment illustrated. a continuous feeder has been shown andidescribed, the inventive concept is not restricted to this particular combination. Other types of feeders may be employed without deviating from the spirit of the invention, the important factor being that the loading of the feeder is facilitated by the arrangement of the units in accordance with this invention.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. Sheet feeding means for printing machines 'andthe like, comprising a feeder unit having means to separate the sheets, a slow moving tape conveyer to present sheets individually to the machine, said tape conveyer being supported at an elevation determined by the height of the point of entrance of the sheets into the machine, and the feeder unit being supported close to the floor to facilitate loading thereof, and means to convey sheets singly from the feeder unit to the tape conveyer.

V 2. Sheet feeding means to separate sheets from a stack and present them individually to a, machine to be fed, comprising the combination of. a slow moving tape conveyer mounted at an elevation dependent upon the height at which the sheets must enter the machine and arranged to slowly present sheets to the machine, -a feeder unit supported close-to the floor to facilitate loading of sheets thereon, said feeder unit having means to separatesheets, and an endless conveyer to carry sheets individually from the feeder unit to the tape conveyer.

3. In means to feed sheets individually to a ,printing machine or the like, means to present chines and the like having an elevated feed board, mechanism supported on the feed board to present sheets singly and directly to the machine, a

sheet feeder at a lower elevation than the feed board and comprising means to support sheets and mechanism to separate the sheets, and conveyer meansto carry sheets from the separating means up to the mechanism on the feed board for presentment to the machine. o

5. In sheet feeding means, for printing machines and the liketo which sheets must be fed at a substantial elevation above the floor, mechanism to present sheets singly to the machine at said elevation, feeder mechanism including a,

support upon which sheets to be fed are placed and means to separate sheets, 'andconveyer means to carry sheets from the separating means upto' 'the sheet presenting mechanism for presentment to the machine, the feeder mechanism so that the sheets dropped therefrom onto-the tapes form an imbrieated row.

7. Means to feed sheets to printing machines and the like comprising, slow moving tapes arranged to present the sheets to the machine, and fast moving conveyer means engaging the sheets at their forward edges and vtravelling in the same direction as the slow moving tapes to carry sheets over the tapes and drop the same thereon.

8. Means to feed sheets to printing machines and the like comprising, a slow moving conveyer movable toward the machine and upon which: 25

sheets are adapted to be deposited for presentment to the machine, and a fast moving conveyer travelling in the same direction as the slow moving conveyer and arranged to carry sheets by their forward edges from a source of supply over the slow moving conveyer and to drop the sheets onto said slow moving conveyer to form an imbricated row.

9. Sheet feeding means for printing machines and the like comprising, the combination of a slow moving conveyer arranged to present sheets dropped thereon to the machine, and a fast moving conveyer comprising endless chains carrying gripper bar's arranged to carry sheets from a source of supply over the slow moving conveyer and to drop the sheets on said-slow moving conveyer.

10. Sheet feeding means for printing machines and the like comprising, the combination of slow moving tapes to present sheets dropped thereon to the machine, and a fast moving conveyer having endless chains connected by gripper bars to carry sheets from a source of supply over the slow'moving tapes and to drop the sheets on saidslow moving tapes for presentment to the machine, said conveyer travelling faster than the tapes.

11. Sheet feeding means for printing machines and the like comprising the combination of overhead means to present sheets slowly to the machine, means located near the floor tosupport a plurality of sheets, means to separate the sheets from the plurality on said supporting means, and a fast moving conveyer arranged to carry sheets so separated up to the sheet presenting means and to deposit such sheets singly upon the sheet presenting means.

12. Sheet feeding means for printing machines and the like comprising, the combination of a slow moving overhead conveyer to present sheets slowly to the machine, feeder mechanism located near the floor to receive a plurality of sheets and separate them, and a fast moving conveyer to carry sheets separated from the plurality up to the slow moving conveyer and to deposit such sheets on saidslow moving conveyer for presentment to the machine. r

13. Sheet feeding means for printing machines and the like comprising, the combination of slow moving tapes to present sheets slowly to the machine, means to support said slow moving tapes trance of the sheets to the machine, feeder mechanism supported close to the floor so as to facilitate its being loaded with sheets to be fed, said feeder mechanism having means to separate sheets, and a fast moving conveyer to carry sheets so separated up to the slow moving tapes and deposit such sheets on said slow moving tapes for presentment to the machine.

14'. Sheet feeding means for printing machines and the like comprising, the combination of endless tapes arranged to present sheets deposited thereon to. the machine at an elevation determined by the point of entrance of the sheets into the machine, feeder mechanism supported close to the floor so as to facilitate the disposition of sheets to be fed thereon, said feeder mechanism including means to separate the sheets, and conveyer means to elevate thesheets so separated up to the endless tapes and to deposit the sheets thereon for presentment to the machine.

15. In a sheet feeding mechanism of the character described, slow moving tapes arranged to slowly present sheets deposited thereon to a machine being fed, and means to deposit sheets on said slow moving tapes comprising, a conveyer moving rapidly over the tapes and in the same direction of movement as the upper stretches of the tapes, and sheet gripping means carried by said conveyer, the sheet upon release from said gripping means dropping directly on the tapes.

16; In a sheet feeder for printing machines and the like, slow moving tapes arranged to present sheets deposited thereon slowly to the machine, and means to deposit sheets onto said tapes comprising, an endless conveyer travelling rapidly across the top of the tapes and in the same direc-:

tion of movement as the upper stretches of the tapes, sheet gripping means carried by said endless conveyer, and means to open the sheet gripping means so that the sheet is dropped onto the slow moving tapes.

'17; In a sheet feeding means for printing mawith their trailing edges dragging onthe tapes,-

and means to release the sheets from the gripping means after the sheet has been carried over the tapes to a predetermined position from which its further advance to the machine is'eifected entirely by the slow moving tapes.

18. In a sheet feeding device for printing machines and the like to which sheets must be fed at a substantial elevation above the floor, a conveyer to carry sheets singly from a source of supply to the machine. said conveyer having a substantially vertical stretch to elevate the sheets from the source of supply to a substantially horizontal stretch which carries the sheets flatwise individually from a source of supply to said sheet presenting means, said conveyer having angularly disposed runs, one of which is substantially upright. to carry the sheets to the elevation of the sheet presenting means and the other of which is substantially horizontal to overlie the sheet presenting means for depositing the sheets flatwise thereon.

20. Sheet feeding means for printing machines and the like, comprising endless tapes having their upper stretches substantially horizontal for presenting sheets flatwise to the machine, and an endless chain conveyer to carry sheets, from a source of supply to said tapes, said endless chain conveyer having a substantially upright run to elevate the sheets from the source of supply to the height of the tapes and a substantially horizontal run overlying the tapes to-carry the sheets thereover.

21. In a sheet feeding device for printing machines and the like, a conveyer to carry sheets from a source of supply near the floor to elevated position for flatwise presentment'to the machine, said conveyer having a fixed section disposed substantially upright to carry the sheets 4 to the required elevation and a movable section adapted to be swung from a substantially horizontal position at which it presents the sheets flatwise to the machine, to an upright position clear of the machine.

22. In combination with aprinting machine having a feed board over which sheets may be fedto the machine, an automatic sheet feeding device to feed sheets to the machine, said automatic feeding device including a conveyer having a substantially upright section to carry sheets from a source of supply to an elevation above the feed board and a movable section to carry sheets across the top of the feed board toward the machine, said movable section being movable from a position overlying the top of the feed board to a position raised ofl the-feed board.

23. In a sheet feeding device, means to present sheets singly to a machine to be fed including a supporting structure havingside frames connected by cross members, side registering mechanism to properly side-guide the sheets as they are presented to the machine, said side registering mechanism including a transversely moving support upon which the sheets rest during the side registering operation, a pressure member to hold the sheet down on said transversely moving support, and means to adjust the degree of pressure with which said pressure member holds the sheet onto the transversely moving support from the outside of one of said side frames.

24. In a sheet feeding device for printing ma chines and the like, a sheet delivery unit arranged to present sheets singly to the machine. said unit having a supporting structure including side frames connected by cross members, side registering mechanism to properly side-guide the sheets as they are presented to the machine, said side registering mechanism including a transversely reciprocating support over which the sheets pass, and a pressure member to hold the sheets down on said support, means to apply an adjustable'firessure on said pressure member,

' and means accessible from the outside of one of.

the side frames for adjusting said pressure.

25. In a sheet feeding device for printing machines and the like, a sheet delivery unit arranged to present sheets singly to the machine,

said unit having a supporting structure including side frames connected by cross members, side registering mechanism to properly side-guide the sheets as they are presented to the machine, said side registering mechanism including a transversely reciprocating support over which the sheets pass, and a pressure member to hold the sheets down on said support, means to apply an adjustable pressure on said pressure member, said last named means comprising a compression spring arranged to pressdown on said pressure member, a shaft extending transversely across the unit with one end projecting through one side frame, an arm fixed to said shaft with its outer end forming a support for the spring, and

means acting on the outer end of said shaft outside the said side frame for imparting rotation to the shaft to move the lever'arm toward and -from the pressure member and thereby adjust the compression on the spring.

26. In a sheet feeding device for printing machines and the like, a delivery unit to present sheets to the machine including a supporting structure having a side frame, side registering mechanism including a pressure applying member, and means to adjust the effective pressure of said pressure applying member from outside the side frame, comprising a rock shaft having one end projecting through the side frame, a lever arm carried by the rock shaft and movable toward and from the pressure applying memher, a compression spring engag ng said lever arm and applying its force of compression on the pressure applying member, and means on the outside of the 'side frame to turn said rock shaft to inove the lever arm toward or from the pressure applying member and thereby adjust the compression of said spring.

2'7. In a sheet feeding device for printing machines and the like, a delivery unit to present sheets singly to the machine including a conveyer having gripper bars arranged to carry the sheets toward the machine, side registering mechanism to properly side register theshee'ts as they are presented to the machine, said side registering mechanism including means to engage down onto the top of the sheets, and means to intermittently raise said last mentioned means to clear the gripper bars as they pass.

28. In a sheet feeding device for printing machines and the like, a delivery unit to present sheets singly to the machine, said delivery unit including an endless conveyer having gripper bars arranged to carry the sheets toward the machine, side registering mechanism to properly side-guide the sheets as they are presented tothe machine including a transverselymoving supporting member over. which the sheets pass, means above said supporting member to hold the sheets down on the supporting member during the side registering operation, and means to positively intermittently lift the pressure applying means to enable the gripper bars to pass.

29. In combination with a printing machine and a continuous feeder having means for separating sheets from a fanned out stack for presentment to the machine, conveyer means arranged to receive sheets from the separating means and carry them to the machine, and said feeder and conveyer means being so disposed with respect to the machine as to turn the sheets over after they have'been separated and during their. passage from the feeder to the machine to insure their being presented to the machine with the same side up as when loaded on the continuous feeder.

30.- Incombination with a printing machine and a continuous feeder having means to separate sheets from a fanned out stack for presentment to the machine,said continuous feeder turning the sheets over during the operation thereof so that sheets loaded on the feeder with the printed side up leave the feeder after being separated from the stack with their printed side down, and conveying means to carry separated sheets from the feeder to the machine. said conveying means being arranged to turn the sheets over after separation and during their passage from the feeder to the machine so that the sheets are presented to the machine with their printed side 31. Sheet feeding means for printing machines and the like comprising, tapes arranged to present sheets flatwise to the machine, a feeder of the continuous type wherein sheets loaded thereon with their printed sides up are turned over so that they leave the feeder with their printed sides down, and an endless chain conveyer arranged to carry sheets from the feeder to the tapes and to present the sheets to the tapes with their printed sides up. a

32. In a sheet feeding device for printing machines and the like, an endless tape conveyer to present sheets to the machine, said tape conveyer being movable to carry the sheets. toward the machine, a sheet feeder of the continuous type mounted beneath the endless tape conveyer, and arranged to discharge the sheets therefrom in a direction away from the machine, and conveyer means to elevate sheets from the continuous feeder to the endless tape conveyer, said conveyer being so associated with the feeder and the endless tape conveyer, that the sheets are deposited on the endless tape conveyer with the same side up as when loaded on the feeder.

33. In a sheet feeding mechanism for presenting sheets to printing machines and the like, slow moving tapes to present the sheets to the machine, and a conveyer to carry sheets from a source of supply to the tapes, said conveyer comprising, gripper bars to .grip and carry individual sheets, and said gripper bars being spaced apart apart a distance less than the length of the sheets so that the sheets assume an overlapped relationship during their conveyance by the conveyer.

35. In a sheet feeding device of the character described, feeder mechanism to separate sheets for individual conveyance to a machine being fed, a conveyer to receive and carry sheets so separated, said conveyer having gripper bars succes siveiy presented to the feeder to grip sheets separated thereby, and said gripper bars being spaced apart a distance less than the length of the sheets sothat the sheets assume an' overlapped relationship during their conveyance by the conveyer, a bridging table to guide sheets from the feeder to 'the gripper bars during transfer from the feeder to the gripper bars,'and means to move the bridging table to an inoperative position directly afterthe sheets are picked up by the gripper bars to permit the trailing portions of the sheets picked up to loop down out of the way of the leading,

edges of successive sheets.

36. In a sheet feeding device, a feeder mechanism to separate sheets from a plurality, a conveyer to carry sheets so separated away from the feeder, said conveyer having sheet gripping means presented to the feeder at definite time intervals to successively grip the sheets separated by the feeder, and a swinging sheet supporting and guiding member between the feeder and the conveyer to support and guide sheets during transfer from the feeder to the conveyer and to swing down out of the way of the trailing portions of sheets directly after they are picked up by the conveyer to allow such trailing portions to clear the leading.

edges of successive sheets.

37. A method of feeding sheets from a stack tofrom the stack to the machine at high speed and in non-overlapped succession, overlapping the sheets, and feeding the sheets for the remainder of the distance from the stack to the-machine and along said defined path in overlapped relationship and at slow speed.

39. A method of feeding sheets from a stack to a printing machine 'or the like, which comprises removing the sheets successively from the stack, feeding the sheets along a defined path at a predetermined speed andin non-overlapped succession for part of the distance from said stack to the machinej calipering the sheets as they travel at said predetermined speed, overlapping the sheets after they have been calipered, and

' feeding the sheets during their final distance of travel along said path tothe machine in overlapped relationship and at a speed slower than said predetermined speed.

40. A method of feeding sheets from a stack to av printing machine'or the like, which con!- prises removing the sheets individually and successively from the top of the stack, feeding the sheets directly upon being removed from the stack along a defined path for an initial part of the distance from the stack to the machine at high speed and in non-overlapped succession, calipering the sheets as they travel at high speed, overlapping the sheets after they have been calipered, and feeding the sheets for the remainder of the distance from the stack to the machine and along said defined path in overlapped relationship and at slow speed. r a

41. In a sheet feeding device for presenting sheets to 'a printing machine and the like, the combination of means for separatingsheets from a stack, means for conveying said separated sheets along a defined path at high speed for .part of the distance from the stack to the machine, slow moving means for carrying the sheets the remainderof the distance along said defined path to the machine, said slow moving means having a portion thereof disposed under the high speed conveying means, and means operable upon the high speed conveying means to cause the same to release the sheets and to drop the same onto the slow moving conveying means in overlapped relationship.

4 2. Sheet feeding means for printing machines and the like in which the point of sheet entrance is elevated from the floor, comprising a feeder unit having means to separate the sheets, a conveyer to present sheets individually to the machine at a speed slower than that of the machine, said conveyer being supported at an elevation determined by'the height of the point of entrance of the sheets into the machine, and the feeder unit being supported close to the fioor to facilitate loading thereof, and means to convey sheets singly from the feeder unit to the conveyer.

43. In a sheet feeding mechanism for presenting sheets to printing machines and the like, mechanism to present the sheets to the machine; and conveyer mechanism to carry sheets from a source of supply to said presenting mechanism, said conveyer mechanism comprising a pllirality of sheet engaging means adapted to engage and carry individual sheets,and said sheet engaging means being spaced. apart a distance less than the lengthof the sheets so that the sheets are carried to the sheet presenting mechanism and received thereby in overlapped relationship.

' FRANK R. BELLUCHE. 

